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Books > Social sciences > Politics & government > Political structure & processes > General
Public administration is commonly assumed to be a young discipline, rooted in law and political science, with little history of its own. Likewise, teaching and scholarship in this field is often career oriented and geared either toward the search for immediately usable knowledge or guidelines and prescriptions for the future. Although most administrative scientists would acknowledge that their field has a history, their time horizon is limited to the recent past. Raadschelders demonstrates that public administration has in fact a long-standing tradition, both in practice and in writing; administration has been an issue ever since human beings recognized the need to organize themselves in order to organize the environment in which they lived. This history, in turn, underlines the need for administrators to be aware of the importance and contemporary impact of past decisions and old traditions. In seeking to go beyond the usual problem-solving and future-oriented studies of public administration, this volume adds greatly to the cognitive richness of this field of research. Indeed, the search for theoretical generalizations will profit from an approach that unravels long-term trends in the development of administration and government. "Raadschelders approaches public administration history from a dual perspective, as trained historian and professor of public administration.... The volume is appropriately called a aehandbook' in view of its methodical listing of the literature on administrative history, together with summaries of numerous authors' principal theories. The second chapter is an essay on sources in the field, including an extended bibliography.... These parts of the book alone make it useful to scholars in the field.... Raadschelders is helpful in other ways as well. The third and fourth chapters offer a highly sophisticated discussion of methodological problems encountered in writing administrative history, including the issue of perceiving 'stages.' Other chapters discuss leading substantive issues such as the development of bureaucracy and citizenship. The author combines his own history-telling with more bibliographic commentary.
Czechoslovakia has captured the nation's imagination throughout the
twentieth century. The Allied betrayal of the country to Nazi
Germany in 1938 was to demonstrate the appalling consequences of
naive appeasement of aggression. The wholesale reform of Soviet
communism in the Prague Spring of 1968 won western support, and
sympathy when it was crushed by Warsaw Pact tanks. The fierce
communist regime thereafter was brought down almost magically in
1989. Czechoslovakia added to the international political
vocabulary the term, 'Velvet Revolution', and the velvet metaphor
has characterised much of the country's path-breaking postcommunist
transformation and its peaceful break-up in 1993.
Political factionalism and ideological polarization have run high in Italian history. They must be taken into account in any attempt to explain the frailty of Italian public institutions - their instability, inefficiency, feeble legitimacy, inability to win citizens' respect, and subservience to sectional interests. Moreover, Italian politics since the Risorgimento can be interpreted as a 150 year-long attempt to prevent factionalism and polarization from spinning out of control and becoming disruptive for the country. This book deals with the historical question of political factionalism and ideological polarization in post-1945 Italy from the point of view of delegitimation. In our definition, delegitimation occurs when one political subject denies another in principle the right to exist, and in more concrete terms that of governing the country, by arguing that it is incompatible with one or more of the values on which the public sphere is founded. The essays in this book chart the story of political delegitimation in post-1945 Italy as it occurred in different political parties, exploited different discursive arguments, was instrumental to different political projects, and was met with counter-arguments aimed at defusing it, or even at trying to counter-delegitimize the delegitimizers. The chapters originally published as a special issue in the Journal of Modern Italian Studies.
This is an examination of the political, economic and social develoment of the Sultanate of Oman from the accession of Sultan Qaboos b Sa'id Al-Sa'id in a palace coup in 1970 to the promulgation of the basic law in November 1996. it looks at Oman within the context of the "rentier" model and argues that the sultanate diverges markedly from that model as the royal family has not utilized oil income to consolidate its control over the country but that, due to the patriarchal tradition of sultantal govenrment and the historical role of commercial, tribal and religoius elites, the Al-Sa'id have been forced to share power with those important elements of society.
Examining the nature of the Fifth Republic after its first 42 years, this study looks at the challenges posed by new parties and new expressions of political mobilization. Entrenched policy routines are being undermined by the emergence of new actors and the failure of old paradigms.
The essays grouped together in this volume look from differing angles at the crisis of condence faced by the contemporary state. What we see is the decline of the authority once associated with the Western nation-state as a source of public order and as a defender of cultural identity. Multiplying and contradictory rights claims, the breakdown of a shared political frame of reference, and attempts by public administration to micromanage society have all contributed to the threat to authority. What remains to be asked is whether the Western paradigm of the state can be restored to the basis of public faith.
This text is aimed at students and clearly and simply explains the working of the British political system. Written by those close to the political process, it provides an authoritative and manageable guide to understanding all the key elements of government and politics in Britain. It begins by placing British politics in context and then explores those areas which feature on British politics courses. Benefits to students include an exploration of the key areas, including the constitution, elections, parties, pressure groups and lobbying, media, parliament, Whitehall, the Prime Minster and ministers, the EU, devolution, and the future of British politics. Government documents give insights into actual political processes, as well as figures, cartoons and tables which illustrate and summarize information and statistics in an accessible way. The appendices provide useful information such as a glossary of terms, a chronology of events, a digest of facts, and a guide to politics on the Internet.
This study examines trends in Voting Rights Act enforcement and the
results for Latino representation. The focus is on local
governments of the West and Southwest: some of the communities
examined, Latino population is increasing rapidly, often to
majority status; and in others, white suburban development is
outnumbering, sometimes displacing Latinos. In both situations,
district lines can decide the future political power of Latinos and
non-Latinos alike. The local distributing process, which has never
been studied in depth, is shown to be reshaping the political and
racial landscape.
"Flash and Crash Days: Brazilian Theater in the Post-Dictatorship Period" deals with the theater produced in Brazil during the 1980s and 1990s, especially postmodernist directors, women playwrights, and theater companies. It attempts to answer the following questions: Did the thriving stage of the 1950s and 60s wither during the reign of terror in the early 1970s, unleashed in the wake of the 1968 state of siege declared by the generals? Did the return to civilian government fail to create conditions for a new theater? A cursory glance at what little U.S. commentary on Brazilian theater has appeared in recent years could well lead one to answer all of the above questions in the affirmative. Scholars beyond Brazil's borders appear to have bonded with those individuals and companies which contested and then fell victim to repression in the 1960s and 1970s. So pervasive is this scholarly trend that a vacuum, an empty stage has been created. There seems to be an unstated assumption that theater in Brazil thrives only under repression and dictatorship. It is an illusory vacuum. "Flash and Crash Days" examines how the absence of censorship, on the one hand, and the exigencies of protest and ideological purity on the other, have given rise to a variety of theatrical modes which Brazil has never experienced in the past, allowing all voices the opportunity to be heard in the marketplace of artistic ideas: women's perspectives, particularly those expressed by playwrights; sexual identity, including gender construction and gay perspectives; psychological issues; the individual in society; religion; formal experimentation
This finely etched, on-site work examines the relationships between the changing political system and political culture in Israel, with particular focus on the decade of the 1980s. Written by a scholar equally at home in the United States and in Israel, and intellectually equally at home in political science and anthropology, Israeli Visions and Divisions is a fundamental contribution to a literature long on passion and short on reason, which perhaps is an academic reflection of social life in this deeply troubled land.Aronoff starts from the belief that the basic conflicting and even contradictory interpretations over what should be the exact character of Israel as a Jewish state continues to be the source of the most serious division among Jews within contemporary Israel. As a consequence, consensus politics yields to coalition politics; and prospects for a future consensus are dim. Conflict among Jewish political and religious groups, and between Jews and Arabs, is aggravated by the uses of Zionist symbolism in a fragmented political culture.This is a serious critique made from a sympathetic quarter. Aronoff suggests that the Israeli political system is undergoing a crisis of political legitimacy, exemplified by the rise of extraparliamentary movements. The parliamentary system accentuates' these divisions by making every minor tradition and vision part of the legislative and executive processes.Israeli Visions and Divisions is not a pessimistic reading. The author is convinced that the way is open for a move away from particularism and tribalism, and toward a new universalism and humanism. The old policies have proven bankrupt, and th,e old ideologies have lost their salience. The book is rich in detail and profound in outlook. It will be greeted by those interested in new policies as well as by students of the Middle East who hope to piece together what has gone awry in the land of milk and honey.
The dynamics of European integration is increasingly topical as Europe's political leaders grapple with the nature and purpose of the EU in the light of major developments, such as the Euro, enlargement and the Treaty of Amsterdam. This book begins with an analysis of an unsettled Europe and the unsettled nature of scholarly analysis of the EU. Taking the emphasis off integration, the authors focus on changes in the nation state, world and international politics and relate these to the changing union. It challenges conventional writings on European integration by situating the analysis of the EU in the context of changing patterns of political and economic order. The authors conclude that the union is not evolving towards a federal superstate, but rather, is an arena of deep economic integration governed by a prismatic policy characterized by innovation, experimentation, pragmatism, decentralization and devolution. Although it may seem unsettled, this book reveals that in fact the experimental nature of the EU enables it to respond to multiple agendas and Europe's diversity in a flexible manner.
The dynamics of European integration is increasingly topical as Europe's political leaders grapple with the nature and purpose of the EU in the light of major developments, such as the Euro, enlargement and the Treaty of Amsterdam. This book begins with an analysis of an unsettled Europe and the unsettled nature of scholarly analysis of the EU. Taking the emphasis off integration, the authors focus on changes in the nation state, world and international politics and relate these to the changing union. It challenges conventional writings on European integration by situating the analysis of the EU in the context of changing patterns of political and economic order. The authors conclude that the union is not evolving towards a federal superstate, but rather, is an arena of deep economic integration governed by a prismatic policy characterized by innovation, experimentation, pragmatism, decentralization and devolution. Although it may seem unsettled, this book reveals that in fact the experimental nature of the EU enables it to respond to multiple agendas and Europe's diversity in a flexible manner.
In the 21st century, China has become impossible to ignore. At the same time, a vast array of perceptions and judgments of China's actions and future have arisen. The confusion, Leah Zhu postulates, is explained by decades of traditional modus operandi, which began in the Maoist Era and misconceives China as a 'collectivist' culture. This book, however, seeks to re-explore thousands of years of China's history to demonstrate the country's adherence to an alternative principle, 'relationalism'. Tracing the pervasive power of 'relationalism' before and after Maoism, it examines the major aspects of Chinese culture, including politics, sociology, psychology and diplomacy. In doing so, it reveals the power of 'relationalism' as the core frame of reference behind contemporary Chinese beliefs and practices. Furthermore, armed with this newly established framework, this book ultimately provides a helpful analysis of China's past political, economic, and judiciary reforms and of how they are faring under the control of the current regime. Featuring extensive evidence and analysis of Chinese culture from ancient rites through to the 21st century, this book will be invaluable to students and scholars of Chinese culture, politics and society. It will also appeal to social scientists and sociologists more broadly.
Originally published in 1979. This study focuses primarily on the development of a structural model for the U. S. Government securities market, ie. the specification and estimation of the demands for disaggregated maturity classes of U.S. Government securities by the individual investor groups participating in the market. A particularly important issue addressed involves the extent of the substitution relationship among different maturity classes of U.S. Government securities.
Economists and political scientists deal with three major areas of concern: the effect of moving large numbers of welfare recipients into labor markets, the planned federal reforms in the health-care field that will shift costs to the state and local sectors, and trends in federal aid. Focusing on the impact of US devolution of responsibility and costs to the states, they find that the state economies can accommodate the challenges generally, but that the effect of welfare reform is too long-range to be adequately assessed in the near-term.
The recent devolution to the states of responsibilities previously held by the federal government -- a key goal of the deficit-reduction, smaller-government agenda of the 1990s -- has far-reaching implications for state budgets. At the moment, a strong economy has put most states into a strong enough fiscal condition to shoulder such burdens as welfare reform and public investment. But beneath the current surpluses are structural problems that are unlikely to withstand the next economic downturn; as a result, any essential public needs will be left unmet. This book deal with three major areas of concern: first, the effect of moving large numbers of welfare recipients into labor markets; second, the planned federal reforms in the health care field that will shift costs to the state and local sector; and third, trends in federal aid. A basic finding of these essays is that state economies can accommodate these challenges generally speaking, but the effect of recent welfare reform presents a problem too long-range to be adequately assessed in the near-term.
Lying on the political fault line between East and West for the past seventy-five years, the significance of Hungary in geopolitical terms has far outweighed the modest size of its population. This book charts the main events of these tumultuous decades including the 1956 Uprising, the end of Hungarian communism, entry into the European Union and the rise to power of Viktor Orban and the national-conservative ruling party Fidesz.
On 1 May 1960, Bombay Province was bifurcated into the two new provinces of Gujarat and Maharashtra, amidst scenes of great public fanfare and acclaim. This decision marked the culmination of a lengthy campaign for the creation of Samyukta ('united') Maharashtra in western India, which had first been raised by some Marathi speakers during the interwar years, and then persistently demanded by Marathi-speaking politicians ever since the mid-1940s. In the context of an impending independence, some of its proponents had envisaged Maharashtra as an autonomous domain encompassing a community of Marathi speakers, which would be constructed around exclusivist notions of belonging and majoritarian democratic frames. As a result, linguistic reorganisation was also quickly considered to be a threat, posing questions for others about the extent to which they belonged to this imagined space. This book delivers ground-breaking perspectives upon nascent conceptions and workings of citizenship and democracy during the colonial/postcolonial transition. It examines how processes of democratisation and provincialisation during the interwar years contributed to demands and concerns and offers a broadened and imaginative outlook on India's partition. Drawing upon a novel body of archival research, the book ultimately suggests Pakistan might also be considered as just one paradigmatic example of a range of coterminous calls for regional autonomy and statehood, informed by a majoritarian democratic logic that had an extensive contemporary circulation. It will be of interest to academics in the fields of South Asian history in general and the Partition in particular as well as to those interested in British colonialism and postcolonial studies.
Great intellectual effort has gone into the development of sophisticated designs and methodologies to study individual policies, programs, and projects. Costly efforts to find the smallest evidence of a policy or program impact have been undertaken in the presumption that such data are central to policy decision making. Meanwhile, the intergovernmental nature of political and policy governance has been ignored. Whether it is Canada, the United States, England, Denmark, Sweden, Germany, Japan, or any other industrial country, the governmental structure is essentially a web of interrelated policies, programs, and projects. To understand local responsibilities and requirements, one must also understand the role that regional and national governmental agencies and administrations play. Politics and Practice of Intergovernmental Evaluation is a landmark work in the area of the evaluation of intergovernmental policies, programs, and projects. Comparative and cross-national in its perspective, the material presented here not only provides a systematic theoretical and empirical treatment of intergovernmental evaluation, but does so with case material from seven nations and the European Union. No other such comparative work exists on this topic. Contributors include: Jan Eric Furubo; Mary Henkel; Linda G. Morra; Robert V. Segsworth and Dale H. Poel; and Willi Zimmermann and Peter Knoepfel. The Politics and Practice of Intergovernmental Evaluation will be of interest to political theorists, policymakers, and scholars and students of government and the evaluation community.
The political uncertainty following the collapse of the Soviet Union and the rejection of the revolutionary model has brought Russian political thought full circle as democratic forces contend with authoritarian nationalism. This volume is essential to understanding the antidemocratic tradition in Russia and the persistent danger of totalitarianism.
In mid March 1999, all 20 members of the executive leadership of the European Union resigned. This was in response to a report, from an independent panel, citing the leadership with chronic cronyism and corruption. One of the most common and strongest criticisms of the EU is that the power is held by a select few unaccountable technocrats sitting in Brussels and who, without consultation, formulate policies. Written just prior to the mass resignations, Claudio Radaelli provided this exploration of technocracy. He has adopted an innovative approach to his study, one which is concise and analytical and which will introduce the reader to the wide ranging literature from political science, political sociology and organizational behavior on bureaucracy and technocracy. All key to understanding how the EU works. Included are two case studies which show the possibilities and limits of relying on 'technocrats'.
"The Political Economy of China's Provinces" is the first book to use the concept of competitive advantage in the context of Chinese provincial studies. On the basis of seven case studies, it charts different provincial paths of economic and political development, and analyzes how individual provinces use their comparative and competitive advantages to formulate strategies in inter-provincial competition. This is a radical new approach which contests the idea that it is safe to regard what happens in one province as representative for the whole country. It is a companion volume to "China's Provinces in Reform, " edited by David Goodman (Routledge, 1997), and makes available the most thorough data on contemporary Chinese provinces.
The transformation of east Germany since unification has wrought vast changes in the economy and in society and left deep scars as the types of social protection offered by the centralised socialism of the previous regime gave way to uncertainties and individualised life chances. Social Transformation in Eastern Germany investigates the deep economic and social processes which east Germany has undergone, highlighting the restructuring, the social impacts and the stresses of adjustment experienced by key social groups whose workplace and social context has been recast almost out of recognition since 1990. |
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